Citrus groves threatened by fruit flies

Late autumn and mild weather conditions are favorable for fruit flies, which are about to lay their eggs in ripening fruit, irreversibly damaging it. The Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) is one of the most unpleasant fruit pests!

This fly is widespread throughout most of the Mediterranean and central Europe; in Italy, it is found particularly in the central and southern regions, where various species of citrus fruits begin to ripen at this time of year.

It is very important to prevent and combat attacks by this pest, and monitoring the presence of males with traps is essential for prevention.

In the period between late September and early October, the fruit fly is at the peak of its population but with fewer types of fruit susceptible to its attack, and this is precisely the reason that makes citrus groves particularly susceptible to attacks by swarms of the dipteran in search of fruit on which to lay eggs. The greatest damage is done by larvae hatched from eggs laid inside ripening fruit, which from birth feed on the pulp by digging tunnels.

How to combat the fruit fly?

It is very important to prevent and counteract the attacks of this pest, and monitoring the presence of the male with traps is essential for prevention even if it does not guarantee to quantify the possible damage caused by the stings made by the female to lay eggs. The first symptoms of the larvae’s presence can be noticed as early as 2 to 3 weeks before ripening, but at this point the affected fruit will be doomed to rot and fall. Therefore, if fruit fly is to be combated, it is essential to prevent and monitor from the beginning any presence of the insect in the orchard.

Martignani treatments.

For more than sixty years, the Martignani company has been known for developing the most important innovations for the sustainable use of pesticides. Awarded in the most important international competitions for New Techniques, Martignani was the first in Europe to introduce electrostatic charge of microdrops, establishing itself in the best fruit farms in Italy and 70 other countries around the world.

This technique is particularly effective in treatments with concentrated mixtures of up to 10 times, with savings of up to 90% water, 60/70% time and labor, 30% chemical, with no dripping to the ground and the abatement of drift losses to the air, this allowed precisely by the electrostatic charge.

Electrostatic Charge and Low Volume

An additional advantage of electrostatic charge is the absence of unwanted chemical residues on crops; in fact, the polarized microdroplets are deposited on the vegetation with maximum uniformity without the slightest accumulation of active ingredient: electrostatically charged microdroplets of the same sign repel each other while they are attracted to leaves of the opposite sign.

Martignani technologies are leaders in technologies in the agri-food sector, which have always been at the forefront of sustainability and attention to the environment and quality and the health of operators and consumers.